


dancing with our hands tied.

by dwoht



Series: bly manor [1]
Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: F/F, an epilogue of sorts, based on cast interviews in which they say dani has always been with jamie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:49:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27004606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dwoht/pseuds/dwoht
Summary: i'd kiss you as the lights went out, swaying as the room burned down /i'd hold you as the water rushes in, if i could dance with you again /or,Dani gives Jamie the gift of dreams.
Relationships: Dani Clayton/Jamie
Series: bly manor [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1980349
Comments: 25
Kudos: 373





	dancing with our hands tied.

_It’s you. It’s me. It’s us._

Though she didn’t understand them, those were the words Jamie had screamed into the watery depths of Dani’s final resting place.

She hadn’t really known exactly why she was saying it, nor what she was trying to accomplish. The moment was simply the verbalization of a confusing, distant memory, but she thrust it forth in a desperate plea nonetheless. It was nothing more than an attempt to let her be with the woman she loved.

And yet, it had worked.

Jamie doesn’t know this, of course. Dani is careful never to let her. The fact that her gardener so desperately wanted to be taken victim by the Lady in the Lake is all the confirmation Dani needs to know that Jamie can _never_ know.

After all, love is selfless, isn’t it? Just like Rebecca had wanted to take the pain from Flora in a final act of good, Dani wanted to take the pain from the Lady in the Lake. Ending the curse was just a nice by-product.

Jamie had once said, “I’ll feel everything for the both of us.”

What was supposed to be words of comfort sent terror straight to Dani’s heart. Not because she thought Jamie might let her down, but because she knew she wouldn’t. And this is one burden she cannot let her feel.

Dani will not. Dani will _never_.

So she keeps herself compartmentalized and separate, making sure Jamie lives her own life for herself, and never allowing herself to slip too much into the new life her gardener has built from the ruins of Bly Manor. 

Every day, when night falls, Jamie goes through her ritual of filling a sink and a tub and gazing into it.

Some evenings, she sits there just for a few seconds, defeat weighing so heavily on her mind that her shoulders slump and her feet are barely able to carry her to bed. Other times, she kneels for what feels like hours, her hands on the edge of the tub, and her eyebrows furrowed, as if she can conjure Dani’s reflection up from wishing alone.

Those nights, she wants to let herself appear. She wants to let herself settle into the still coolness of the bathtub, and wants to show herself. She wants to yell and scream and say, _I’m here! I’m here!_

But she doesn’t. She always waits Jamie out, until she can’t take it anymore, and waits for her to get up. Jamie does, eventually, and goes around turning off all the lights but a lone lamp in the corner. She always leaves the door open a crack, which Dani hates.

First of all, she’s a ghost, not a real human. The rules of physics don’t really apply to her in the same way, so if she was going to come visit, she doesn’t need the invitation of an open door. She’s not a vampire.

Second of all, it’s dangerous. The first night Dani allowed herself to fully form around Jamie’s sleeping form, it was because the door was open and Dani was sure Jamie would get murdered had she not been there. The notion was ridiculous, of course, but Dani begun allowing herself that one thing.

After a day lying in the bottom of the lake, she gets to go home to her gardener and wrap her arms around her and protect her from the villains of life and the demons in her head.

But Jamie is still so anxious. All the time. Her heart beats too fast anytime someone mentions anything about drowning or death or even things that should be as peaceful as the English countryside. Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes anymore, and her feet drag even when she does what she loves most.

Some days, she barely gets out of bed, only rising to use the bathroom and feed herself. Even then, what used to be three meals together per day turns into snacking and binging and erratic eating patterns. She waters the plants out of necessity, but not out of love.

Even her sleep is no respite. She shakes and cries and thrashes around, waking to what she believes to be an empty room as Dani watches helplessly as she cries herself to sleep, only to be taken by yet another nightmare.

Dani didn’t save her for this. Dani didn’t save her just so she could become her own living version of the Lady in the Lake. Waking, walking, sleeping. That’s all Jamie’s life is anymore.

So Dani tries to help the only way she knows how, and maybe it’s something she’s been longing to do for years, but in the end, it’s really for her gardener.

She gives Jamie dreams. When holding her sleeping form isn’t enough, she gives her dreams. Joint by those words Jamie screamed into the terror of the lake, she gives her dreams.

At first, they’re hesitant. Nothing more than soft memories from their life together to ease the stiffness in her shoulders.

The first memory is cuddling in bed watching television. Dani can’t even remember what they were watching, so she puts on something relaxing and cute because from what she _does_ remember, they ended up just talking through the entire thing.

She focuses on the softness of the red pajamas they both wear, something so cheesy and dorky that Dani can’t believe Jamie ever even agreed to it. In the end, it was apparently the functional warmth of the fabric that made her agree.

Dani relaxes into the memory, pushing forth everything nice from it that she can remember.

The plush carpet below Jamie’s feet as she pads down the hall with a cup of tea, and over to the bed where Dani is already waiting for her. The comfort and familiarity of the mattress beneath them. The pattern of the blanket on the bed, and the pillows in which she lays back against. The way their legs slot together like they were made for each other.

Mostly, she emphasizes the way Jamie relaxes. Really, truly relaxes. Her shoulders are about as tense as a cooked pasta noodle, and her mind is clear from everything but the topic of what to eat for dinner the next day.

She gives Jamie the feeling of unadulterated contentment.

And with it, for the first time in a long time, Jamie sleeps soundly through the night. No nightmares, no tossing and turning. She accepts and falls into the arms of Dani, and wakes with a smile on her face.

The day that follows is the most productive she’s had in a while. She greets customers with the usual conviction, and tends to the plants like she cares again. She cooks herself a full meal, does laundry.

So Dani continues.

The next night is one of their many mornings together. Dani gives her the warmth of the sheets and the cool, contrasting air of the morning that wafts through the window. She gives her tangled legs and messy hair. She gives her the ease of blinking awake without an alarm clock to force them into the new day and slow kisses to the beat of their hearts.

And then it’s a day at the beach, which they worked up the courage to do for weeks. The first time, they drove all the way there only to have to turn around when the sight of water and the crashing of waves sent Dani straight into a panic attack.

But they did have one success. Armed with a cooler full of wine and cheese, plus the calming words whispered to each other on the drive over, they make it down to the sand.

Dani gives her the gentleness of the sunshine, and the smell of salt. She gives her the call of seagulls and the melody of the waves. From there, Jamie had convinced her to go in the water, clothes and all. Dani gives her the shock of the cold giving way to the artful lightness of the ocean. She gives her clumsy kisses interrupted by laughter and salt water, and gives her the rush of conquering her fears.

Some nights, she even gives her heavy and passionate nights they’d spent together. Roaming hands and hot mouths and the art of learning about each other in every way possible. She gives her the feeling of fingers trailing up her leg, teeth on her neck, and the fullness of holding on to each other.

Dani gives her the moments after, too. The sleepy haze of kissing and talking into the late evening, and the feeling of being wrapped up in nothing but their love for each other.

She gives her the memory of finally teaching Dani how to make proper tea, which halfway through she thinks maybe isn’t as nice of a memory as she initially thought. It’s all frustration and tongues burnt on hot water… until it isn’t.

The perfect cup of tea leaves her happier than she ever thought a cup of tea would make her, and Dani gives her the feeling of satisfaction. She gives her sweet kisses in celebration and laughter over a steaming mug for each, and gives her the never-ending feeling of fulfillment that ran rampant through their house for years.

She gives her the time they stayed up to watch the stars all night, because Dani always did say she believed in aliens, and Jamie always said it was ridiculous. She gives her the moment on the roof when time stood still. She gives her the calming hum of nighttime, and the coolness of the tail-end of an overcast day. She gives her soft blankets and softer words and whispered nothings into the sky.

Whether it’s an afternoon at the bookstore, a lazy walk through the woods, cooking dinner together at home, getting breakfast out, or all the moments they had together in between, Dani gives Jamie back everything.

And yet, her gardener can’t let the little bit of tension go. She returns to her daily activities with a spring in her step, and the light in her eyes has returned as quickly as the furrow in her brow has smoothed.

But when the world is still, and it’s not yet nighttime, and there’s nothing to distract her, the terror returns.

Jamie hides it well, but her hands shake when she pours herself tea or she pauses a bit too long in the mirror after using the bathroom or her lower lip trembles when she sets the table for dinner and doesn’t put an extra plate out.

Dani tries again, doing what she can not to take what ails Jamie, but to give her the skills she needs to get past it. Or, at the very least, come to terms with it.

The next night’s dream is a little bit different.

For the first time, Dani alters the reality of a memory to fit a new narrative. She sends Jamie back to the day at the lake, her heart breaking as she feels her shoulders tense again. The car rolls up, Jamie gets out, and she stands there, gazing into the misty water.

Just as it happened before, Jamie dives in, walking and swimming with gusto only possible from someone chasing the person they love.

And just like before, she kicks down below the surface, eyes setting sight on Dani’s sleeping form on the ground of the lake. The chill that runs through their bodies is nothing compared to the cool embrace of the water. Only this time, when Jamie screams out, Dani rises to the surface with her.

Jamie’s hands clumsily claw at her shirt and hair, holding her close, then pulling back to look at her face, and then trying to pull them back towards the shore.

_Wait_ , Dani says.

_What? No, let’s get out of here_ , Jamie says breathlessly.

Dani shakes her head a little. _I can’t. You know that._

Jame’s eyebrows furrow, and the confusion on her face breaks Dani’s heart, but she knows it’s what she has to say. _You didn’t have to leave._

_I did, though_ , Dani says, brushing back the wet curls framing the tears threatening to escape Jamie’s eyes. _Because if I didn’t, she would have come for me. And I couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t take you too._

_I want to be taken_ , Jamie says immediately.

Dani presses a kiss to her lips, trying not to falter when she feels the warmth of Jamie’s mouth double-take at the coldness of her own. The kiss tastes of desperation and final words they never got to say to each other, and her lip trembles against Jamie’s forehead when she whispers, _I know. And that’s the problem._

_Don’t leave me_ , Jamie breathes into her ear.

_I would never._ Dani holds her close, one last time, wishing their last touch got to be under better circumstances. _I’m always with you._

And with that, she releases Jamie towards the shore. Once she’s sure her gardener has begun the swim back, she lets herself sink below the waves again, inhaling lungs full of water, and settling once again on the lake bottom.

She wills Jamie awake. Slowly, so as not to alarm her, and then slips away as her gardener blinks herself fully back to reality.

It helps a little bit, but not enough. The dream has only seemed to confuse her and give her more questions than she has answers for. She spends far longer kneeling in front of the bathtub that evening, and to the water she says, “Dani, I don’t understand.”

No reply, of course, but Dani marvels at the way her name still sounds like a prayer when it rolls off of Jamie’s tongue.

Instead, she tries to rectify her obviously less than satisfactory dream from the night before with a new one. This time, she puts them back in the evening when she realized she’d have to leave on her own terms before she was forced to.

Straddling Jamie though she knows she shouldn’t, it’s strange to follow through with motions she did when she was practically possessed, even though she isn’t anymore. This time, she keeps her hands posed harshly grappling with Jamie’s life until her gardener blinks awake.

She expects her to scream or yell or push her off. She expects her to realize why Dani had to leave. But she doesn’t.

Instead, she just sighs, _Oh, Poppins._

_I just tried to kill you_ , she says unhelpfully, trying to figure out why Jamie hasn’t grasped the gravity of the situation.

_I know_ , she says, offering a wry smile. _C’mere_.

And with that, she folds Dani into her arms, relaxing almost too quickly into the hands of someone whose fingers were literally at her throat just moments before. Dani says as much, trying to get dream-Jamie to talk it out. _You aren’t worried about what this means?_

_We knew this day was coming_ , Jamie shrugs. She presses a kiss to the top of Dani’s head. _We knew this wasn’t going to be forever. The… lady —_

_The Lady in the Lake_ , she interjects.

_Right, the Lady in the Lake_ , Jamie continues. _We’ve always known she’d be coming for us. For lack of a better word. I reckon it must be now._

_That doesn’t worry you?_ Dani asks.

_Of course it does_ , she laughs. _But we’ll handle this. Together. Like we always do._

So, because Jamie is being far too selfless about the whole thing, Dani takes initiative to bring the conversation back to what she actually did. _I think I have to go back._

_Back?_ If the earlier discussions didn’t send alarm straight to Jamie’s face, that sentence does.

_To Bly_ , she say unnecessarily.

_You know that’s not the answer_ , Jamie tries. She tilts her chin up, and lets her kiss silence what words have been spoken from Dani. The words come anyway.

_She’s coming here_ , Dani says, _and I can’t let that happen._

_You can’t leave_ , Jamie says again. She’s practically begging her at this point, clawing at her clothing and gripping her arm so tightly it almost hurts.

_Jamie, I —_

_No, Dani._ There’s a desperation in her voice Dani has only heard once before, but then it was drowned out by the murkiness of lake water. Now, it’s shrill and sharp and hurts her much more than the real thing. _Don’t leave me. Please, Dani. I’ve never asked you for anything before. I can’t do this without you. I can’t —_

Jamie jolts awake.

Dani slips away as fast as she can, heart thumping as she watches Jamie startle into reality with wide-eyes and panicked breaths she breaths as her own. Jamie rolls over, tears leaking from her eyes, and screams into the pillow.

Well. That didn’t go as planned.

The next night, she tries a different angle. Jamie reacts to her hands around her throat the same as she always does, but this time, Dani goes in a little softer. _We knew the Lady in the Lake would come back for us. For me._

_For us_ , Jamie agrees.

_I think we should be proactive_ , Dani says. Jamie chuckles and arches one eyebrow. _What if we could find a way for us to be together… but separately._

_You’ve lost me, Poppins_ , Jamie says, still an easy smile on her lips.

Dani kisses the smile away, easing her into her words. _I think I need to give her what she wants. The Lady in the Lake, that is. I need to go back._

_What?_ Jamie sits up. _I don’t think so._

_What if I could promise we’d still be together?_ Dani asks. _Maybe not in the same way, but together still. Emotionally._

_I’d rather be together physically_ , Jamie says. There's a ghost of a smile, like she's laughing at a joke she doesn't understand, but it's taken over by frustration. _Dani, this is ridiculous. I’m not going to let you just return to your death._

_And I can’t let you be here when she comes for it anyway_ , Dani says. Her thumbs fall to smooth the furrow in Jamie’s eyebrows, but it remains nonetheless. _We don’t have a choice. Let me do this for you._

_You realize it is ridiculous for you to be asking for my… what, approval?_ Jamie says. _I don’t approve. I could never._ She pauses _. But I understand it._

_You do?_ Dani can’t hide the surprise, and a tentative smile finds its way back onto Jamie. _I didn’t think it would be this easy._

_I would rather it be this way_ , Jamie admits. _You do what you want when you want it, and I can’t stop you. At least we get to say goodbye._

_Right_ , Dani says. She kisses the tips of Jamie’s fingers, letting her mouth wander to her palm, wrist, and up her arm. _We get to say goodbye._

It’s silent, for a bit, and then over the harmonizations of their breathing together, Jamie says, _I’m glad you didn’t just leave._ Dani almost feels offended because really this is still _her_ dream, and yet dream-Jamie is calling her out. _I would follow you anywhere, and I would have followed you back. And I’m guessing I would have found you, and… I don’t think I could have survived that._

_You’re stronger than you think_ , Dani says, hoping the weird trace of guilt in the back of her throat doesn’t taint her words.

_So, what did you mean by together apart?_ Jamie asks. She laces their fingers together, and Dani starts to realize why they always seemed to be touching in life; Jamie knew this was coming. Even if she didn't let it consume her all the time, she knew. She was trying to hold on for as long as possible. Dani squeezes are hand.

_There’s a way for my… spirit, so to speak_ , Dani starts delicately, _to stay with you. You wouldn’t necessarily know, but I would be there._

_That doesn’t seem fair for me_ , Jamie mumbles. _And what would this one-way relationship get me?_

_Dreams_ , Dani says. Jamie looks highly thoughtful, like she does when Dani starts to worry about whatever tricks she’s planning, and feels as though she might be a little too close to the truth. So she backtracks. _Hypothetically, of course. This isn’t real._

Jamie’s face falls. _It feels like it, though._

_I know_ , Dani whispers. _And I love you_.

The remnants of a reply are drifting off when she eases Jamie awake.

It doesn’t fix everything, but it helps.

Now, when there’s a little too much silence, or a little too much stillness, and Jamie is left alone with her thoughts, she doesn’t look so distraught anymore. Instead, she just tilts her head to the side, closes her eyes, and takes a deep breath. Dani reaches out with her heart, and she hopes Jamie can feel it.

Sometimes, she thinks she does.

She gives Jamie back the good dreams. More memories, though this time she doesn’t hesitate to distort them.

She gives her the memory of cooking soufflés together, only this time they rise and bake correctly. She gives her a hike through the forest, but without the blisters or never-ending sweat. Also, the hike through the mountain is magically flat.

Some nights, Dani relives what _she_ wants to. Maybe it’s a bit selfish of her, but she hopes Jamie enjoys it anyway. She knows on some level that she does. After all, Jamie had said she’d feel things for both of them, and she has followed through. The conjuring of her own memory falls pale in comparison to actually breathing the moments in dreams.

So, tonight, Dani indulges. She gives them their engagement.

_What happened there, then?_ Jamie asks, turning from the stove.

Dani raises the plant hesitantly. _I found it on the street. Wanted to save it._

It’s such a Jamie thing to do, really. Take in old, lost, discarded things and make them better. Plants, women, old houses. As much as she puts on a hard facade, she’s really just as soft as everyone else.

Dani’s efforts are rewarded with a smile. _Give it here, then._ She reaches for the pot, and then it’s like Dani has blacked out. She can’t really remember what else happens, just remembers being more nervous than she’d ever been in her whole life. _Well, there’s your problem_ , Jamie tuts, _your roots, they’ve —_

It’s quiet. Not silent, quiet.

Dani gets to live, for the first time, their engagement through both of them. Her heart pounds like she might throw up because she’s so scared, and yet another part of her feels a flutter of excitement, and another part embraces a fleeting glimmer of hope.

_Dani, why is there —_

_Here’s the thing_ , she says. Her throat wavers, though she begs it not to, and Jamie is standing there looking so confused, with a ring in her hand. _You’re my best friend. And I love my life. And I don’t know how much time we have left_. It’s not much, she refrains from saying. This is a happy memory, she reminds herself. _But however much it is_ , she continues, _I want to spend it with you. And I know we can’t technically get married, but I also don’t really care. We can wear the rings._ She nods. _And we’ll know. And that’s enough for me… if it’s enough for you._

And then Jamie is nodding and chuckling and laughing away her tears as she says, _I reckon that’s enough for me, yeah._

They hold each other. Sometimes kissing, sometimes pressing their foreheads together, sometimes just breathing in time to each other. Dani extends time as far as she can, leaving them standing there, basking in their moment of peace, for hours. If dream-Jamie senses something is up, she doesn’t say anything.

They stay that way, hearts beating, lungs pumping, until the sun comes up.

The engagement becomes a regular. Dani’s not sure if it’s her own projections or the fact that she’s so connected to Jamie she can actually know it, but she can sometimes tell when Jamie wishes she would dream about it, too. And that’s one thing she happily gives.

The engagement takes Jamie through years and years of happiness, but the satisfaction begins to wear off, and there’s an unmistakable sense of longing that trickles through the peace.

So Dani gives her a wedding.

It’s probably all wrong because she has never actually been to one, but they walk down the aisle, and they get to see each other, and there’s someone to officiate, and there’s their rings, and there’s the _I do._

Beyond that, everyone is there. Owen, Hannah, and even little Miles and Flora, who Dani begins to suspect aren’t so little anymore.

Dani only gives them the wedding once because she doesn’t want bitterness from not actually ever getting it in life to taint the perfection of what she has created for the two of them. It’s a one time thing, but it’s wonderful, and when she catches Jamie looking at the ring on her finger with a smile instead of the beginning of a frown, she likes to think Jamie thought so too.

Dani brings them through the years, together but apart.

Jamie grows older, which has always been unavoidable, and it forces Dani to confront the passage of time. She wonders if her face is fading at the bottom of the lake like the Lady in the Lake’s did all those centuries ago.

She allows herself to look in the mirror one day, and though she doesn’t know what she expected, she’s practically alarmed to find her face is still completely intact. She hasn’t aged, though. She isn’t a day older than the last day Jamie saw her.

She looks a little bit different, too.

It’s still obviously her, but the color of her eyes flickers in and out to all different shades blue, grey, and green. Her hair color flows darker and lighter and the style seems to shift every few seconds. Examining the slight difference in the fullness of her lips or the bridge of her nose brings her to realize that she lives on in Jamie’s memory.

The stories she tells about the two of them, specifically Dani, is what keeps her alive. And thus, instead of losing her face, she has morphed into how Jamie remembers her. It’s striking to see herself as beautiful as Jamie did.

She hopes, one day, Jamie gets to see the beauty Dani saw in her as well.

She starts to be more conscious of Jamie’s age in their dreams, trying to help Jamie live not in the past, but in the present. A few more wrinkles, a gray hair here or there. Signs of age. Signs of life that Dani will never have.

Life, by the way, is just out of reach. It taunts her. Their dreams are the best part of her day, and the worst because it’s almost uncomfortable to be temporarily alive.

The mortality of the beat of her heart is new, as is the feeling of need to breathe. Other things are better, though. The smoothness of her limbs, not stiff like they are when she’s lying on the floor of the lake. And Jamie, of course.

She doesn’t know if it’s worse to be dead all the time, or worse to have a taste of what it’s like to live and return to death like clockwork. She revels in the dreams, like she knows Jamie does too, but that doesn’t stop the turn of the Earth, the passage of time, nor the end of the night.

Inevitably, the sun rises, as it always does, and Jamie will wake. Whether her eyes blink open to dried tear tracks on her cheeks, a smile on her lips, or tingles in her toes from a dwindling dream, she wakes.

It’s the one thing that Dani, with all her dreams and gifts, can’t stop.

The sun isn’t all bad, of course. It allows the plants Jamie loves so much to grow, and it brings about a kind of warmth and comfort and rebirth that Dani, forever resting in the bottom of a lake, can only dream of. The sun is a reminder of life.

Because Jamie gets to live. God, she gets to live. If nothing else, Dani has that to say for the things she did.

Jamie gets to wake and breathe and eat and sleep. Jamie gets to feel her heart pump to the beat of birdsong, and gets to breathe in and out to the waves of the ocean. She gets to plant plants and watch them thrive.

Jamie lives, and Dani must let her.

Still, every night, as Jamie drifts off to sleep, Dani comes to her, wrapping her arms around her tightly and tucking her away into a dream or a memory or a wish. She gives Jamie all the things she could not in life, and takes for herself never more than what her gardener offers.

_I’m with you_ , Dani wants to say. _I’m with you, and I love you._

But she never lets herself.

She just continues to gift Jamie with all that she can, and allows her to feel things for the both of them. In return, Jamie tells her story, talking about Bly Manor and Viola and Flora and Miles and all the people of their past. Most of all, she tells about Dani, and everything that she was, is, and hopes to be.

How strange, Dani thinks, that even so far apart, their love is still so selfless.

They aren’t that far apart, though. Not really.

Before Dani knows it, Jamie is old. Her face holds wrinkles from a lifetime’s worth of laughs and cries and shouts and adventures. Her eyes twinkle with wisdom brought on only with time, and her hair has faded into a wispy grey.

The high of the wedding still pumps through her as she lets herself into her hotel room, but as she begins getting ready for bed, it fades into exhaustion.

Dani never realized how tired Jamie really was all these years. Not just her body or mind, but her heart. It's ached enough for sixteen different lives, and it's just tired. Every day it pumps a little slower, and every night, when the lull of the stars and the temptation of a forever sleep almost causes the beat to cease entirely, Dani whispers through the dreams she gives Jamie, _Hold on_. And her gardener does, until she can’t.

Jamie cracks open the hotel door, and takes her seat. Sighing into the embrace of the armchair, she lets her heart call out louder than she could with her voice, _Take me._

This time, it isn’t scared. This isn’t a too-young woman screaming fearfully for things she doesn’t understand. This is an old woman. Not really at a natural age to die, Dani knows that, but she also knows Jamie has lived a good and fulfilling life, and is merely accepting the inevitable.

She’s asking for something only Dani can give her.

So she does.

Jamie sighs, a deep, long breath, and Dani waits for her to drift off into yet another sleep. She gives her a dream full of happiness and hope and a lifetime’s worth of memories. As Jamie takes her last breath of air, and as her heart pumps slower and slower until it stops altogether, Dani makes herself known for the first time ever.

Her hand rests gently on Jamie’s shoulder. Beckoning her into the next part of their adventure together, she says, “It’s you. It’s me.”

Jamie rises to meet her. Her smile is as warm as the sunshine that always seems to follow, and her touch is soft. Dani can barely bring herself to meet Jamie’s eyes, but then, with that English accent she’d recognize anywhere, her gardener lets out a little chuckle. “Chin up, Poppins. It’s us.”

_It’s us_.

And it’s enough.

**Author's Note:**

> quinnfebrey on tumblr. come chat!


End file.
